Calling all Riu Brides. Questions!

Hi everyone, My name is Amanda, and my fiance and I just booked our wedding with The Riu Palace Paradise Island in Bahamas last month. How are you ladies handling the fact that you wont hear from your wedding planner until 2 months before? I recieved the "Additional Costs" pdf but I dont understand it. The wedding package we are going with is the Royal wedding, but what does that include? I have emailed the planner assigned to my wedding twice and have not recieved an email back. I do not want to wait up to 2 months before our wedding to find out what we actually get. What did you guys do? Thanks! Amanda

Hi TA Maureen, Thanks for the post. I know what the Royal package includes, what I dont understand is the pdf that was emailed to me. The things in the royal package are in the pdf. So that means I get those but without the extra cost right? but what I am having a hard time with is not knowing what the decor is, and all the other little details. And I am not impressed with the photographers website and the pictures that is shown on the website, so I have some questions about that. So I guess I am kinda freaking out, because I am not the type that can wait. I like to be totally organized all the time. I just wish the planner would email me back. So I am wondering what all the other Riu brides did to handle that. Do you have any suggestions?

amanda, you will be fine you just need to remember they are the pro,s and they know what they are doing.but i totally understand what you are saying all you need to do is make a list for yourself of the extras that you need and list the costs so you know what the total cost will be.

the pdf doc you have is that from the faq list they supply you with?i have this if you pm me your email your address i will forward it to you.

Hi Amanda! I really want to get married in the Bahamas! I've been sending RIU emails that we want to book our wedding but still no response. I also want to book the ROYAL Package. How long did it take for them to respond? Did you have to sign a contract and put down a down payment/deposit? I finally got a TA to look at group rates for us and she also specializes in destination weddings so she said she can call the resort for us too.

I did try to book it online on WEDDINGS BY RIU but it will not allow me to book or give me a confirmation code. Maybe there is a glitch in their system...I'll just have to wait till our TA calls us back with group rates. Maybe she will know how to go about this. Thanks anyway..

It is a bit of a process to book with RIU, so patience seems to be required. I just went through it, also with a little frustration. You definitely have to do it through the website, it is the only way. Even if you are trying to email them, there is a good posssibility that any responses you receive will direct you to back to the online booking process. An additional step to the booking process, that I didn't realize initially, is that you need to also book your room at the resort to confirm the booking for the wedding. The online process will ask you for your room booking confirmatin number (that you can obtain through your travel agent). My travel agent has definitely been helpful in contacting the resort sales department with questions for me. Apparently, you deal with the central sales department until the confirmation is finalized before it is handed over to the on-site wedding coordinator for handling the details. This has been my experience anyway... hope the information (and empathy) may be helpful! Also, there was no deposit required (although they do require credit card information online for holding the confirmation and the potential cancellation fee). Payment is due upon arrival. Good Luck!